Saturday, 11 April 2015

Can I attend the Vigil Mass on Saturday and receive the graces of Divine Mercy Sunday?Yes, the Vigil Mass fulfills the Sunday obligation of the Feast of Divine Mercy, so the extraordinary graces are available when you receive Holy Communion in a state of grace at the Saturday Vigil Mass.

Q. Can I receive Holy Communion on Mercy Sunday and offer those graces for someone else, living or deceased?A. Our Lord's promise to grant complete forgiveness of sins and punishment on the Feast of Mercy is given to those who accept His invitation to come to the Fountain of Life. These graces are for ourselves.I want to grant a complete pardon to the souls that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion on the Feast of My mercy (Diary 1109).Whoever approaches the Fount of Life on this day will be granted complete remission of sins and punishment (Diary 300).The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment (Diary 699).However, given the extraordinary graces that the person receives from Holy Communion on Mercy Sunday namely, the complete renewal of baptismal grace the time after that Communion is an excellent time for the communicant to intercede for loved ones on earth, and to begin to undertake indulgenced works, as established by the Church, for the sake of the souls in purgatory.In fact, Pope John Paul II granted a plenary indulgence for special devotions to The Divine Mercy on Divine Mercy Sunday, and these indulgences can be obtained for the suffering souls in purgatory.Q. Some people in our parish insist that we must go to Confession on Mercy Sunday because that's what St. Faustina wrote in her Diary. They want to do what she said, not some interpretation of it. Do I need to attend Confession on Divine Mercy Sunday?

A.Cardinal Macharski, the Archbishop of St. Faustina's own archdiocese of Krakow, Poland, wrote a pastoral letter to all his priests on January 30, 1985, on how to prepare for and celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. In it he said that all of Lent should be a preparation to celebrate Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday worthily. The Sacrament of Reconciliation should be received sometime in Lent, not put off until the last minute (Holy Week). We go to Confession with the intention of repentance and to amend our lives, and we should live in such a way as to be worthy to receive Holy Eucharist. If we have any venial sins, a good Act of Contrition will take away those sins.

St. Faustina did not go to Confession on Divine Mercy Sunday. For example, we find in Diary entry 1072 that she went on the day before in preparation for Divine Mercy Sunday. It was not the custom at that time to make Confessions on Sundays. Our Lord would not have asked her, or any of us, to do what is impossible. It would be impossible for everyone to go to Confession on Mercy Sunday.NO Purgatory! This indulgence is like a second baptism.

Q. What extraordinary graces are available on Divine Mercy Sunday?

A. Our Lord revealed to St. Faustina His desire to literally flood us with His graces on that day. He told her: On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. The soul that will go to Confession [beforehand] and receive Holy Communion [on that day] shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment (Diary 699).

The theologian who examined St. Faustina's writings for the Holy See, Rev. Ignacy Rozycki, explained that this is the promise of a complete renewal of baptismal grace, and in that sense like a "second Baptism" (in much the same way that St. Catherine of Siena called sacramental Confession, undertaken out of true love of God, an "ongoing Baptism") (The Dialogue, no. 75).

The extraordinary graces promised to the faithful by our Lord Himself through St. Faustina should not be confused with the plenary indulgence granted by Pope John Paul II for the devout observance of the Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday). The Decree of the Holy See offers:

"A plenary indulgence, granted under the usual conditions (sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer for the intentions of Supreme Pontiff) to the faithful who, on the Second Sunday of Easter or Divine Mercy Sunday, in any church or chapel, in a spirit that is completely detached from the affection for a sin, even a venial sin, take part in the prayers and devotions held in honour of Divine Mercy, or who, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament exposed or reserved in the tabernacle, recite the Our Father and the Creed, adding a devout prayer to the merciful Lord Jesus (e.g. Merciful Jesus, I trust in You!)..."

Mark 16:9-15Douay-Rheims

9 But he rising early the first day of the week, appeared first to Mary Magdalen, out of whom he had cast seven devils.

10 She went and told them that had been with him, who were mourning and weeping.

11 And they hearing that he was alive, and had been seen by her, did not believe.

12 And after that he appeared in another shape to two of them walking, as they were going into the country.

13 And they going, told it to the rest: neither did they believe them.

14 At length he appeared to the eleven as they were at table: and he upbraided them with their incredulity and hardness of heart, because they did not believe them who had seen him after he was risen again.

15 And he said to them: Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Today, Christ upbraids the apostles for two sins-yes, sins.

The context is that the Eleven refused to believe both Mary Magdalen and the two disciples who met Jesus on the way to Emmaus.

The two sins for which Christ suffered on the Cross and to which He reprimands them in this Gospel are obstinacy and the unwillingness to believe.

These two sins involve acts of the will. Obstinacy may be called in our culture "pig-headedness" or "rigidity". This sin comes from two big sins--inordinate self-love, or selfishness, and rebellion.

The sin of rebellion was THE sin of the Jews in the Old Testament. Innumerable times do we see the prophets reprimanding the people for rebellion, for hardness of heart.

Pig-headedness just means that a person wants what they want when they want it and too bad, so sad for the consequences. Basically, this sin is one of pride, as well as the primal sin of rebellion.

The unwillingness to believe, incredulity, indicates a turning away from grace. In other words, the apostles turned away from the truth of the appearances of Christ to their own comfort zones of unbelief.

They were still acting like Old Testament Jews, instead of New Testament Christians. They had to repent, and Christ, the Son of God, severely rebuked them-the meaning of the word upbraided, or reprimanded.

No small thing to be severely rebuked by the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity-Christ, God and Man...Maybe if they listened to Him, believed in His Resurrection, the apostles would have to change their lifestyles. Big time decisions can be put off by rebellion.

We all can fall back into old patterns of sin. This is the reason for seeking out, begging God for purgation. Purification is the only way to stop the habits of sin.

In today's Epistle, we see brave and true apostles, but this is after Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit gave them the very virtues we have to go out and preach the Gospel.

Fortitude, temperance, prudence, justice--the cardinal virtues, faith, hope, love-the theological virtues, and all the gifts of the Holy Spirit....wisdom connected to prudence, perfecting love, understanding connected to justice and perfects hope, knowledge connected to prudence and perfects love, counsel connected to prudence and perfects it, fortitude adding to the virtue of fortitude--as we need more courage and the insights of this most important virtue, piety connected to temperance and justice, and fear of the Lord., also informing, connected to temperance. This information is all found in the teachings of Aquinas and commentators on the virtues throughout the history of the Church, including the catechisms.

The gifts perfect the cardinal and theological virtues. See my other posts on these.

We have these and it is only sin which prevents us from proclaiming the Gospel to the world, as commanded (not suggested) by God.

Let God cleanse you, bringing you to purity of heart so that these virtues and gifts may be manifested in the world. More now than ever does the world need holiness...

Garrigou-Lagrange's explanation sounds like a summary of all the posts of mine on the virtues. Of course, Aquinas provides us with most of this teaching.

The explanation of the drawing below continues....Someone yesterday told me a person became "unhinged" and ended their marriage. This word in common parlance means the same thing as here-the lack of virtue.

This drawing and the explanations would make a great part of Confirmation prep, imho. Home schoolers, take note.

However, to enter this spiritual edifice there must be a door. According to tradition, in particular the teaching of St. Gregory the Great, often quoted by St. Thomas, the four hinges of this two­leafed door symbolize the four cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. Their name "cardinal" comes from the Latin cardines, meaning hinges. This meaning is preserved in the current expression, "That man is unhinged," when irritation makes a man fail in these four virtues. Without them man is outside the spiritual temple in the uncultivated region ravaged by the evil weeds of egoism and inordinate inclinations.(3) The two upper hinges on the temple door symbolize prudence and justice, which are in the higher part of the soul, and the two lower hinges are figures of fortitude and temperance, which have their seat in the sensible appetites, common alike to man and animal.

To each of these four hinges is fastened a triple piece of ironwork, symbolizing the principal virtues annexed to each of the cardinal virtues. Thus, to prudence is attached foresight (a reflection of divine Providence), circumspection attentive to the circumstances in the midst of which we must act, and steadfastness or constancy, that we may not because of difficulties abandon good decisions and resolutions made after mature reflection in the presence of God.

Inconstancy, says St. Thomas, is a form of imprudence.(4)

To the virtue of justice are also attached several virtues. Those which relate to God as forms of justice toward Him are: religion, which renders to Him the worship due Him; penance, which offers Him reparation for the offenses committed against Him; obedience, which makes man obey the divine commandments or the orders of the spiritual or temporal representatives of God.

The virtue of fortitude makes us keep to the right road in the presence of great dangers instead of yielding to fear; it manifests Itself in the soldier who dies for his country and in the martyr who dies for the faith. To fortitude several virtues are also attached: notably, patience that we may endure daily vexations without weakening; magnanimity which tends to great things to be accomplished without becoming discouraged in the face of difficulties; longanimity which makes us bear over a long period of time incessant contradictions that sometimes are renewed daily for many years.

Lastly, to the virtue of temperance, which moderates the inordinate impulses of our sensible appetites, are attached chastity, virginity, meekness which moderates and represses irritation or anger, and evangelical poverty which makes us use the things of the world as though not using them, without becoming attached to them.

According to St. Augustine and St. Thomas, to each of these cardinal virtues corresponds a gift of the Holy Ghost, symbolized by so many precious stones which ornament the door; portae nitent margaritis, as we read in the hymn for the feast of the dedication of a church.

To prudence corresponds manifestly the gift of counsel, which enlightens us when even infused prudence would remain uncertain, for example, as to how to answer an indiscreet question without telling a lie. To justice, which in regard to God is called the virtue of religion, corresponds the gift of piety, which comes to our help in prolonged aridities by inspiring in us a filial affection for God. To the virtue of fortitude corresponds the gift of fortitude, so manifest in the martyrs. To the virtue of temperance, and especially of chastity, corresponds the gift of filial fear, which enables us to surmount the temptations of the flesh, according to the words of the Psalmist: "Pierce Thou my flesh with Thy fear."

Thus the picture of the spiritual edifice condenses the teaching of the Gospel, the writings of St. Paul and of the great doctors on the subordination of the virtues and their connection with the gifts of the Holy Ghost.

This structure may appear somewhat complicated when insistence is placed on the virtues attached to the cardinal virtues; but the superior simplicity of the things of God stands out if the following profound statement is considered carefully: When in a soul or a community the foundation of the edifice and its summit are what they ought to be, in other words, when there is profound humility and true fraternal charity, the great sign of the progress of the love of God, then everything goes well. Why is this? Because God then supplies by His gifts for what may be lacking in acquired prudence or natural energy; and He constantly reminds souls of their duties, giving them His grace to accomplish them. "God . . . giveth grace to the humble," and He never fails those who understand the precept of love: "Love one another as I have loved you; by this shall all men know that you are My disciples."

Until one reaches a daily life of true humility, as I have noted before, none of the gifts are truly free to operate. This graph, from Garrigou-Lagrange, shows the

None of the virtues can be lived day by day without the purgation which brings the necessary purity of heart.

People think they are virtuous, but in reality, they are practicing natural, not supernatural, virtues.

A few priests I have met understand this-all but two are in Ireland.

These good men, who have allowed themselves to be put through the Dark Night, understand that the virtues are blocked by even one venial sin.

Habitual venial sins definitely block virtue. The first conversion is to Christ, The second conversion is one of humility.

All the supernatural virtues and gifts then grow and are manifested, but only then. See the other posts on this.

Here is the great Dominican's own reflection on this drawing.

As the drawing on the opposite page shows, from humility, the base of this excavation resting on Christ the foundation rock, rises the first column of the edifice, the pillar of faith, as St. Paul calls it. Faith is called a fundamental virtue, not only like humility in that it removes an obstacle, but in that all the other infused virtues rest positively on it.(1) Opposite the pillar of faith is that of hope, which makes us desire God, eternal life, relying on the divine help for its attainment.

These two pillars support the cupola of charity, the highest of the virtues. The part of the cupola which rises toward heaven symbolizes charity toward God, whereas that which slopes toward the earth is a figure of fraternal charity, which makes us love our neighbor for God because he is a child of God or called to become one. The cupola is surmounted by the cross to remind us that our love ascends toward God only through Christ and the merits of His passion.

St. Augustine, speaking of the beatitudes in his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, and St. Thomas tell us that to each of the three theological virtues corresponds a gift of the Holy Ghost; these three gifts are symbolized by three lamps. From the pillar of faith is suspended the lamp of the gift of understanding, which renders faith penetrating. By faith we adhere to the word of God; by the special inspiration of the gift of understanding we penetrate it, as for example, when assailed by temptation, we comprehend that God is truly our last end, the one thing necessary, and that we must remain faithful to Him.

From the pillar of hope is suspended the lamp of the gift of knowledge, which, according to St. Augustine and St. Thomas, makes us know things, not by their supreme cause as wisdom does, but by their proximate, defectible, and often deficient cause. For this reason, according to these doctors, the gift of knowledge shows us the emptiness of earthly things and the vanity of human helps in attaining a divine end. In this sense, the gift, which perfects faith, also perfects hope and leads us to aspire more strongly toward eternal life and to rely on the help of God, the formal motive of hope, to attain it.(2)

From the cupola symbolizing charity is suspended another lamp, the gift of wisdom, which illuminates the whole interior of the spiritual edifice and makes us see all things as coming from God, supreme Cause and last End, from His love or at least by His permission for a greater good which we shall some day see and which from time to time becomes visible here on earth. In this spiritual temple, says St. Paul, dwells the Holy Ghost and with Him the Father and the Son. They are there as in a mansion, where They may be and are from time to time quasi-experientally known and loved.

One of the few "lights"of Holy Week for the person in the Dark Night. is that Christ joins us in His Own darkness. Christ allowed Himself to take our sins upon Himself and experience the type of suffering we suffer daily because ...

Fascinating Article-VIP for Podding · Please,. Tuesday, 16 December 2014. Well, like being in the Dark Night. Posted by Supertradmum · Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest. No comments:.

The list I made yesterday, distilling some of the characteristics of the Dark Night from John of the Cross' writings shows that one can endure this purgation here and now. Why wait until purgatory? Why put off what can be done ...

4 My tears have been my bread day and night, whilst it is said to me daily: Where is thy God? 5 These things I remembered, and poured out my soul in me: for I shall go over into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to ...

Thoughts from The Dark Night. Posted by Supertradmum. Humility is the key to holiness. All the saints state this but most of us do not take this seriously. Even those great saints who did not seem prideful, like St. Alphonsus, ...

Some of this post is a repetition of earlier ones on the Dark Night and the passions. But, because I have met so many young people under the age of fifty, who have never in their life heard any teaching on the passions or ...

I want to add something on the Dark Night of the Spirit. The Dark Night of the Senses seems more obvious, when God weans one from reliance on sight, sound, taste, feel, and smell. One no longer has any joy or consolation ...

One of the worst parts of the Dark Night is the fact that one realizes one should be damned for one's sins. This awareness of the life of failure to respond to grace, the missed opportunities for growth in holiness, the persistence ...

Many weeks have passed since I have written on the Dark Night. Today, I want to emphasize one aspect, returning to some of the ideas written last year. Just use the tags. A double-edged sword of the Dark Night is the ...

Purification is not to be confused with despair. One does think and even feel like one may be damned while one is experiencing the Dark Night. But, that is normal. To finally realize that one deserves to be damned for one's ...

For those in the Dark Night, the beginning of the second stage is the end of the purification of the senses. The next stage, the purification of the spirit, is the first stage for those who are called the proficients. The early stages of ...

One no longer desires to be religious, or holy. One no longer "feels" the Presence of God or "feels" like one loves God. These false feelings must be struck dead. Feelings belie faith and in the Dark Night, one lives in faith only.

I shall try and simplify the ideas. The first point is that Kavanaugh points out that the ascent of the spirit is initiated by us, but the Dark Night is initiated by God. I do know this is true. Only God can take us into the passive part of ...

So many do not work through the Dark Night to the point of being free enough to allow the virtues to come to the fore. One feels and sees one's weaknesses, states St. John and, therefore, one practices fortitude. One does not ...

I have written on this subject before on this blog. In ourselves, as one approachs God in the Dark Night, one begins to realize that for a long time, fear has blocked one's openness to the love of God and the love of other people ...

Encouragement from Cardinal Manning in The Dark Night. Posted by Supertradmum. I write this for S and J, especially.. The great man writes this: “…do not be afraid when the consciousness of your past sins and of your ...

For without dealing with our predominant fault, there is no moving on into the Dark Night, Illumnative and Unitive states. Later on, I can show how the predominant fault, unless dealt with in this life, is the reason we go to .

A gentle reminder is that the Dark Night is a grace, but one offered to all. How long it takes is up to God. For some, it lasts months and for some years. Again, one is reminded of Blessed Mother Teresa's 50 years in the Dark ...

But the great temptations of the Dark Night, spiritual pride and sexual sins, reveal the deep of imperfection in the soul, mind, heart, senses. The temptations are blessings, the soap, which cleans the heart, mind, soul, as one ...

Yet until a soul is placed by God in the passive purgation of that dark night, which we will soon explain, it cannot purify itself completely of these imperfections or others. But people should insofar as possible strive to do their ...

Sometimes, in the Dark Night, God brings one to a taste of His Great Love. We do not will this or even ask for it. This just happens. This good is not continuous in the Dark Night. And, one does not even perceive the Love of ...

Three, the Dark Night of the Spirit brings the experience of love into the soul, mind, will and body which has undergone purgation. If these faculties are purified, one experiences the power of the Holy Spirit, yet unknowingly, ...

I have written before on the difference between the Dark Night of the Soul, when no consolations are felt or seen by the person involved, and despair. The two states are completely different. In despair, hope is gone. Faith is ...

For those friends of mine in the Dark Night, I want to share some ideas from the writings of St. John of the Cross. For those who have not been following this series, just click on the tags below. I want to highlight a few points ...

Today's Gospel reflects the necessity for the Dark Night of the Soul-the death of the sensual side of us. The senses must be so pure that these only desire God alone and nothing else. St. John of the Cross, whose feast it is ...

This virtue grows in the Dark Night of the Soul. Father Phelim quotes St. John of the Cross, that, "the more things we possess the less scope and capacity there is for hoping and consequently, the less hope we have." He notes ...

One begins to love the Dark Night, because one has an underlying sense of resting in God, even though in darkness and this knowledge, that God is leading one brings a comfort, even in the unknown. Because of faith, one ...

Before I move on to more on the Dark Night of the Senses and Spirit, I shall share a positive goal, which many need to remember when going through such suffering. Here is St. John of the Cross on this goal. If a model for the ...

Leon Bloy

Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma

The Church Must Not Be Defensive

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Too many Church leaders do not think, or do not think as Catholics

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GUILD PRAYER

God our Father, source of life and freedom, through Your Holy Spirit you gave the Carmelite, Titus Brandsma the courage to affirm human dignity even in the midst of suffering and degrading persecution.

Grant us that same spirit so that, in refusing all compromise with error we may always and everywhere give coherent witness to Your abiding presence among us.